Hackney Community Defence Association

Please note that this is a radical history site, we are unfortunately not able to help people who have experienced problems with the police.

HACKNEY COMMUNITY DEFENCE ASSOCIATION

Introductory text from “Fighting The Lawmen” booklet, 1992.

On January 1st 1987 a young black man, Trevor Monerville, was arrested and held incommunicado in Stoke Newington police station. On January 8th he had emergency brain surgery to remove a blood clot from the surface of the brain. The Family and Friends of Trevor Monerville was set up to campaign in support of justice for Trevor.

On June 25th 1987, Tunay Hassan died in custody at Dalston police station. His family and friends set up the Justice for Tunay Campaign. On November 5th, Gary Stretch was viciously assaulted by seven off duty City Road police officers. Gary and his family have strenuously campaigned for justice.

In response to the number of allegations made against Hackney and Stoke Newington police officers, Hackney Community Defence Association (HCDA) was set up on July 2nd 1988. The Trevor Monerville and Justice for Tunay campaigns and Hackney Anti Fascist Action formed the organisation with the aim of providing the victims of police crime with a campaigning voice.

HCDA is a self help group for the victims of police crime. It investigates allegations against the police, provides mutual support for victims and campaigns against police injustice.
HCDA is continuing a long tradition of resistance to police injustice in Hackney.

Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s campaigns have called for a public enquiry into the police to no avail. HCDA is now calling on the Home Secretary to set up a Judicial Inquiry into the police at Hackney’s police stations -Hackney, City Road, Stoke Newington and Dalston (now closed).

HCDA and Colin Roach Centre timeline, distributed at meeting about Hackney Spycops, February 2016:

PUBLICATIONS

• A People’s Account of the Hackney Anti-Poll Tax Demonstration on March 8th 1990, 1990
• A Crime Is A Crime Is A Crime, 1991. (Report into police crime in Hackney 1989-1991. Presented to the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice in November 1991)
• Fighting The Lawmen, 1992 (Report into Stoke Newington drug squad’s criminal activities, includes personal accounts and describes how HCDA investigated the police).
• Squats ‘n’ Cops, 1993 (2 pages can be seen at Hackney Archives page)
• On The Border Of A Police State, 1993 (A campaigning pamphlet on three government reports on the police and a campaigning strategy for challenging the emergence of a police state.)
• Who Killed Patrick Quinn: The Framing of Malcolm Kennedy, 1994
• Community Defence: Bulletin of the Hackney Defence Association – various issues

Also:

• Trevor Monerville appeal poster, 1987
• The Wrong Side of the Law: article from The Independent, 21 November 1993.
• Police could face criminal charges after drugs enquiry: article from The Independent, 4 February 1994.
• Interview with Graham Smith of HCDA about the Colin Roach case and the work of HCDA. [pdf]
• Police Crime: A Constitutional Perspective – doctoral thesis by Graham Smith, 1998
• The legacy of the Stoke Newington scandal – Graham Smith  1999
• Infiltration of HCDA and other groups 1995-2000
• Chas from the band Flowers In The Dustbin on HCDA and spycops